About Us
Our Mission and Vision
Established in March 2009, Parent and Community Technology and Law Center (PACT Law Center) is a 501 (C)(3) non-profit corporation that works to promote and advance family strengthening and community building through strategic partnerships and collaborations. PACT Law Center seeks to leverage web-based technology in order to model the possibilities of virtual non-profit operations that can efficiently and cost-effectively bring to scale social solutions that focus on system and public policy change that promotes racial equity and social justice agenda setting. To that end, PACT seeks to organize and engage diverse communities, constituencies and/or committed stakeholders.
PACT Law Center acts on its mission by advancing advocacy and public policy initiatives in the areas of male engagement, fatherhood, family support and family and community strengthening, returning citizen re-entry, community development and community building, and progressive planning practice. Fundamentally, PACT Law Center’s vision is vested in the belief that individuals and communities have assets that can be organized and leverage to facilitate the transformation of practice and public policy in ways that bring scale, sustainability and outcome measurability to the work of racial equity, social justice and civic democracy.
Our Values
PACT Law Center seeks to advance its work by establishing operating relationships with collaborators and partners who share a common set of values that are premised on a set of beliefs that include the following:
Collaborative work and engagement is important because it requires organizations to first identify what they do best to advance the objectives of the partnership or collaboration, and then allows them the opportunity to learn and share with others their strengths and weaknesses so that they can grow their capacity.
Building capacity amongst those being served, engaged, or organized is critical to advancing social justice outcomes.
Collaboration and partnership can be longstanding and/or event driven. It is based on mutual respect, honesty, information and resource sharing, as well as a desire to perform at one’s best.
Partnerships or collaborations are for the purpose of advancing not for profit objectives of social justice and equity that embrace a theory of change that is commonly shared by all involved.
Partnership or collaborative arrangements will outline roles and responsibilities, detail specific outcomes and timeframes to be met, and should address the availability of resources required to support the partners and collaborators in the delivery of their commitments.
PACT Law Center will draw on the experiences and relationships it has developed and when appropriate broker new opportunities for collaborative connections and partnerships.
Our Staff
Dr. Kirk E. Harris
Founder and President/CEO
Dr. Kirk E. Harris is the Founder and President/CEO of Parent and Community Technology and Law Center (PACT Law Center). Having been an executive in the nonprofit sector for over 20 years, Dr Harris has come to appreciate that traditional nonprofit operations that tend to be placed based and limited in their collaborative infrastructure have failed to maximize the outcomes of their efforts. Traditional not for profit entities have lacked the ability to be programmatically and institutionally nimble, are limited in their capacity to identify, evaluate and execute on opportunities to collaborate and/or partner, and have not fully appreciated the enormous opportunities that exists to leverage their own capacity, as well as improve the capacity of those they serve by utilizing the power of the web to support organizing, collaboration and agenda setting processes.
Click here for more information about Dr. Harris.
Cal Stoffel
Director of Research
Cal Stoffel is the Director of Research for Parent and Community Technology and Law Center (PACT Law Center). A data analyst and social sciences researcher, he has a decade of experience working for non-profits, higher education, and municipal government. He has a focus on urban planning, psychology, criminology, and organizational change management. Cal brings a wide variety of skills and specialties, including research, data management and automation, ArcGIS mapping, website building/maintenance, email marketing, and project management. Cal employs a collaborative approach to his work and strongly supports racial equity and justice initiatives.
Our Strategic Collaborators
Hubert Morgan
Stanhope is committed to designing the best public involvement and engagement strategies. Their primary goal is inclusion by design. With a combination of extensive stakeholder outreach and 21st century polling technology, they craft engaging, deliberative, public forums. Strategies involve stakeholders throughout the decision-making process, amplifying the public’s voice in the design of vibrant and sustainable places.
Dr. Dominica McBride
BECOME is a Center for Community Engagement and Social Change. Through culturally responsive evaluation, research and community development, they seek to cultivate a socially just world.
Department of Urban Planning
The Master of Urban Planning (MUP) program equips students with skills they need to tackle the challenges facing cities in the decades ahead. Partnerships, Power, Place, and Possibilities. All four of these concepts underpin the long-term pursuit of environmental sustainability, social justice, and economic opportunity in urban planning practice.